Would it be possible to connect a modern video camera (VCR, or DVD player) to a television set from the 1950s? Would it be easier to use a camera from the mid-80s 
?
I think that if you use a 300ihm to 75 ohm connector, or the other way around, you just hook it to your antenna connector and you’re good to go.
But, I’m not sure.
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It depends on whether the TV has antenna contact screws on it. I’m not sure what was typical in the 50’s. I would guess that they used external antennas so they probably do (the one we had in the early 60’s was connected to a rooftop antenna). If so, you just take your signal output from the device to an adapter with lugs, screw them on. This assumes that your output device has a TV signal output, which most (all?) do, which you can usually set to be either channel 3 or 4. The frequencies for those channels in the 50’s hasn’t changed. If your device does not have quite the right output, I believe there was a thread here several months back which mentioned a converter available at, for example, Radio Shack, which would provide the appropriate output for a TV.
Assuming the 1950 TV has 2 300 ohm screw connectors for an antenna input it should be no problem. All you need is a 300-75 ohm balun and an RF modulator to convert the camera’s line level audio-video signal to a VHF signal outputting on channel 3 or 4. . Both should be available at Radio Shack or Walmart fro around 3 and 25 or so respectively.
You could connect a modern video camera to any American TV manufactured since 1941.
Only if your name is Doc Brown!
Electronic Chaos, I know who the character Doc Brown is (Back to the Future), but I don’t understand your reply. Perhaps you don’t believe that television sets were manufactured in 1941? About 7,000 sets were manufactured in the U.S. before World War II halted production.
It was a joke. He/she was making a reference to the movie Back To the Future in which Marty hooked up his camcorder to Doc’s tv.